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EXERCISE: To be determined. Many outdoor projects have been calling my name for weeks. At my current weight, I just don't have enough energy left after walking the dogs to tackle them, so, for today, the dogs will get a day off....until DH gets home. :)
Over the past several months, life got me off track, or, to be honest, I ALLOWED life to get me off track. I wrote about the "loss" of our neighbors. There were 4 other "losses" that affected me, as well. Death is certainly a loss, but sometimes other changes amount to "losses," too, such as our neighbors leaving.
Loss and change are natural parts of life, but I realized after-the-fact, that there have been more changes than usual in my life and that the sum of them, was a heavier toll on me on some inner level. Those emotional hits made it more difficult for me to keep my focus on my WOE. Let's face it, I've eaten the "other" way for my entire life, except for the past 5 years, so this WOE is still pretty new in the great grand scheme of things.
Remember the BP oil spill in the Gulf a few years back? Remember BP's CEO getting into trouble saying something to the effect that "I want my life back"? Well, that's what I felt like for most of the fall and on into this spring. (Still do, on some days.) As of last summer, I had a pretty nice daily routine and lots of freedom to add in extra activities as I wanted. All in all, pretty cushy, I guess. That changed with the addition of a new puppy, a process that began in September.
Houston Collie Rescue became involved in a rescue of over 100 collies from a hoarding situation. I journaled about it back in September and there's still a lot of info out there on the Net. DH and I decided to step up and adopt one of the rescued dogs. We hadn't been looking for a 3rd dog and we certainly didn't NEED a 3rd dog, but with over 100 collies waiting to be adopted, it would take years if HCR had to find "new" adopters for them all. A lot of former adopters from HCR felt the same and did what we did....make room for "one more dog."
I expected to adopt a 2- to 3-year-old female, smooth collie. What we ended up adopting was an 8-week-old, male, rough collie (the Lassie type). Of COURSE, I could have said no, I'd like something different, but I was drawn to this puppy, as was DH. We've raised puppies before...yes, it's a lot of work, but we can do this, no problem. So off we went with our puppy....who had been treated for diarrhea just before we met him....the puppy we were about to take to a hotel...to stay the night...before embarking on a trip from Houston to Florida! :0
It has been 10 years since I've raised a puppy (our last dog was 2 years old when we adopted him). I had forgotten how much work was really involved! And, the work more than doubles when you have other dogs to fit into the mix and when you're also dealing with a pup with GI upsets (and who would have/develop a few more medical problems).
Don't get me wrong, I love this Little Guy - who's not so little any more! But I can say that this puppy has been more work than any other puppy we've raised. He's doing great, even though we're still monitoring the GI upsets. While he did not come from the hoarding situation directly, he was one of the pups born the very night of the seizure to a pregnant mom who had spent her entire life living in those horrid conditions. It's amazing that every one of her 13 (!!) pups survived, thanks in great part to an awesome foster family that worked night and day to ensure mom and the pups survived.
While my daily routine/schedule has opened up slowly but surely since September, it's still not where I'd like it to be. I'm trying to be patient and realize that it's VASTLY improved from last fall and looks to be even better with each passing day. It helps my WOE to not be so confined to the kitchen (with its tile floors) for big chunks of time. Fortunately, even with his GI issues, this pup still housetrained very quickly.
There's light at the end of the tunnel - and I know it's not a train!
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